Zelenskyy: Europe Needs Anti-Ballistic Missiles Now
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- Zelenskyy urged NATO allies at the Ankara summit to prioritize air defense, saying Ukraine cannot stop Russian ballistic missiles alone and calling Patriot interceptors his "top priority right now"
- Ukraine faces a growing shortage of Patriot missiles, though it has maintained high interception rates against drones and cruise missiles — ballistic missiles remain far harder to stop without sufficient Patriot stocks
- Ukraine's forces now eliminate tens of thousands of Russian troops each month through what Zelenskyy called "the world's most advanced drone warfare capability," alongside naval drones in the Black Sea and long-range strikes deep inside Russia
- Zelenskyy said Ukraine has discussed Patriot production licenses with Washington and urged European governments and industry to back expanded manufacturing
- Patriot production is "nowhere near enough to meet demand," per Zelenskyy, who told the NATO Defense Industry Forum that Europe must build "affordable, mass-produced, anti-ballistic systems" today rather than waiting "until 2030 or beyond"
Why it matters: Zelenskyy's framing puts the war's next phase as an industrial race, not just a battlefield one: drones and naval strikes are working, but Russian ballistic missiles remain the one threat Europe's interceptors and supply chain cannot yet neutralize. Backing licensed Patriot production and indigenous European anti-ballistic systems is now the metric that will determine whether Ukraine can close that gap or face it permanently.
